Traveling to England, need some tips

In My Humble Opinion
1

Work is sending me to Bedford, England for a week. This is just about two weeks from now, and I’m starting to get things together for my travel. I go all over the US on official busniess, and have become quite the pro at domestic travel. But I’ve never traveled overseas, and haven’t left the country since I was 10 and went to Toronto.

It occurred to me that overseas travel might cause more difficulty than usual in keeping connected. And Mrs. audilover is unfortunately stuck on this side of the Atlantic. I can’t just whip out the cell phone and call home (that’s it, I’m switching to T-mobile). I can’t just use my normal traveling dial-up account to get online. And I don’t know the best solutions for these issues.

I figure a prepaid calling card might be an option, especially for my wife to call me. But I’m not sure about the other way around (I’d hate to pay for an overseas call from a hotel room.) I’m still waiting to find out if the hotel offers any sort of 'net access. If not, there’s not much point in lugging along the laptop…or is there? Surely there’s some sort of NetZero kind of service over there.

Any other UK travel advice you can give would be great. I’ll be driving (wrong side of the road…scary!), so I’ve got a lot of freedom to go places. Although I dunno what’s near Bedford. So there’s some more advice I could use: Things I must see or do. Things I’d best avoid. Good things to eat, good beers to drink…whatever you got.

2

Well, you can always go to an internet café. They’re everywhere these days.

3

Well I’ll tell you one thing I learned the HARD way - when you’re in the middle of London and there’s traffic everywhere, look to the RIGHT when you step off the curb to cross the street! It won’t do you a bit of good to look to the LEFT to see if traffic is coming, because it’s not coming from that direction! And I know it may not sound important to you now, but after years of conditioning, it’s hard to force yourself to check in what seems like the wrong direction. I really freaked out a driver in England who almost smacked into me and had to blow his horn at the last second. That was a wake up call.

4

Oddly, calling overseas can be either extremely expensive or downright cheap – depending on what type of phone you’re calling TO.

If you (or your wife) are calling TO a landline from the States, then you’ll be able to get some great rates – I use a service called Nobel, which is one of those 1010 numbers, and it’s about 4cents a minute. But there are heaps out there (calling cards, 1010 numbers, etc.), so just check around the net.

Now here’s the rub: If your wife is calling you and you are using a cell phone over there (or mobile, as they call it) it will be very expensive. Recently, every company I know of has added a huge surcharge to call TO a cell phone overseas – often 30-40 cents on top of your original charge (per minute!). So keep this in mind.

As for you calling her, there is something I once used called a “callback” service, but unfortunately I can’t remember how it works exactly. Perhaps someone else can help you.

It’s been a few years since I lived in England, but I still have many fond memories of the place, especially the folks you can meet down in the pub. (Be warned – I gained a few pounds there, mostly due to some of the rich beer and not so healthy food.)

Another little note – when you drive, be alert as hell. Remember that the driver sits in the middle of the road, i.e. the side of the car you’re sitting in should be next to the center line. Of course, I also would just follow the guys in front of me, which helps in the city but can be hopeless in the countryside.

Have a great trip, and don’t be afraid to chat to the locals…as long as you’re not the arrogant, all-knowing American, they’re generally pretty damn hospitable.

Cheers!

5

I’d recommend not collecting a hire car at the airport. This’ll mean you’ll be jetlagged, on the wrong side of the road, in rush hour on some of the busiest roads in Europe. Not fun. Getting to Bedford by train is fairly straightforward - indeed if you flying into Gatwick, it’s a direct service. Hopefully you can get a car delivered to the hotel - if not, you’ll just need to collect it from somewhere local.

For internet access, there’s various ‘free’ services where you simply pay the cost of the phone call - www.freeserve.com comes to mind. I think you’ll need an adaptor or a new lead to fit into a UK phone socket. Also you might need to change the settings on the computer so it’s not waiting for a dialtone, because it won’t recognise the UK tone.

Bedford itself is hardly the centre of the universe, but it’s easy to get to London by train for a day trip, and well placed to drive off into the countryside and experience Ye Olde England. You’re also fairly close to Cambridge, also worth a visit. To find decent pubs, often the best way to get good cheap food (particularly in out-of-the way places), look at http://www.goodguides.co.uk/index.asp

6

Apparently there are two in the Bedford area.

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I used calling cards in England, that was fairly cheap. I was the one who called home. In Ireland, I used my cell (T-Mobile) but the bill was very high.

One thing that I wished I would have thought to bring - more plug adapters. Not the power converters, most modern electronics (laptops, cell phones, digital cameras) have power converters built in. The only thing I needed a converter for was the hair dryer. But with all those things to charge, a few more plug adapters would have been welcomed. If you need them, you can probably buy them there but I bet they’ll cost more.

I used my laptop for digital picture storage and photo editing. I prefer to take all my digital pics at full res, but for emailing I needed to edit them down. So the software on my laptop was used for that, then I transferred the pics to my floppy drive and took the floppy to internet cafés for emailing home. Some of my family and friends are on dial-up still, and all the computers I used overseas were dial up, so getting the pics under 60K was a necessity.

Driving on the left was no big deal, I was apprehensive about it, but when I started doing it it came naturally. Just watch at roundabouts and turns so you continue to stay in the correct lane - especially making left turns. It is easy to forget and try and move over to the right after a turn. I never did it, but one of our other drivers did and almost ran into a tour bus.

8

Another thought about driving…familiarise yourself with the road signs here. By no means are all of them self-explanatory.

9

A tip one of my co-workers gave me: Be sure to arrange your car rental beforehand and request an automatic transmission.
I never would have thought of this for two reasons: virtually every rental in the States is an automatic, and I really like driving stick shift anyway.

The reality is that you will more likely than not get a manual transmission car if you don’t specify anything, and the shifter is on your left side. There’s enough new stuff to worry about without having to learn how to shift with your left hand.

I’ll second Boscibo about those roundabouts. I was fairly well prepared for driving on the left, even was paying extra special attention to right turns (since a right turn has the same danger element that our left turn does). I never even considered how confusing those darned roundabouts would be.

A roundabout is a traffic circle. You will find one in situations where we normally have a traffic light. It’s unpleasant to come across one after another with no clue as to how they work.

Traffic goes clockwise (in the typical crossroads-style roundabout). Traffic in the circle always has the right of way. Once you are in the circle, a left turn is the first exit, straight ahead is the second exit, and a right turn is the third exit.

Be prepared to find these everywhere. Instead of a big old American cloverleaf at a freeway interchange, they often plop a traffic circle on top of the freeway, using two overpasses to cross over the road.

Have fun!

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Roundabouts usually have 4 exits, but can have many more. Some large ones even have traffic lights on them. Some have one lane, others two (which isn’t marked out). When approaching a roundabout, you must give way to traffic approaching from the right. You travel around it in a cloackwise direction, trying to go anti-clockwise is not advised. The mini-roundabouts are a doddle, but watch out for the larger ones - people often drive around them at speeds in excess of 40 mph, and many people don’t indicate.

I don’t mean to scare you, but have a look at this - The Magic Roundabout in Swindon . I can only assume whoever designed it was on drugs at the time. Don’t worry, you aren’t going to encounter anything as complicated as this, its unique in the country.

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Thianks for all the advice so far, guys. And definitely keep it coming.

A few responses…

– I will, good or bad, be picking up my rental car at Gatwick. And it’s going to be a stick, but I asked for the manual. I’ve driven RHD vehicles on a few occasions, and I’ve never had a problem adapting to the shifting. I’ve just never had one on the left side of the road. I can’t pass up an opportunity to try something this novel, so I welcome the adventure. I’ll have another traveler with me, so he can play navigator, and that will cut down on a lot of the confusion. I’m not the typical stupid American driver =)

– I’ve heard that driving in moderate traffic will actually be easier than driving in the country, just because I’ll have people to follow. We’ll see.

– I should have no problem NOT being the “arrogant, know-it-all American.” I’ll be more of the know-nothing American, and not ashamed to admit it. Plus, I used to work in a touristy industry, so I know that being charming and humble pays dividends.

– I found a couple webpages for British driving schools that had tutorials on driving roundabouts, as well as some other unique things. I fee a lot better now that I know the rules of engagement. I’m still trying to figure out that “magic” roundabout, though. Thank God Swindon isn’t on my itinerary.

Now, tell me about English cuisine (if there is such a thing). Anything I must try while I’m over there? My knowledge of British food is limited to fish & chips, weird organ meat dishes, and warm beer. I can only assume I’m terribly under-informed. Although, I could probably live off fish & chips rather easily. :wink:

Thanks again guys.

12

Oooooh food…

If your hotel is any good, you’ll have no problem trying out a full English breakfast (aka Farmyard On A Plate). Fish and Chips should be easy to find - ask somebody local to recommend a decent takeaway. Cod and Haddock are the common fish to find offered, I’d recommend either. Expect to receive it in a big parcel of white paper, with the grease dripping through :smiley: .

As for other foods, I’d stick with what I said above, and find a good pub that does decent food. Look out for local specialities - fish, sasuages, cheeses, that kind of thing.

Beer, beer, beer… :slight_smile: :slight_smile: …don’t expect ‘warm’ beer, expect it slightly below room temperature. No idea how the word warm ever got associated with it. Any decent pub will offer cask beer, on those big pump handles. Steer clear of the little flip-handle pumps if it’s real beer (ie not lager) you’re after. Once again, the local fare is likely to be the best treat. If in doubt, ask the barman what he’d recommend - hopefully he’ll know what he’s talking about and not bluff it.

Try curry!!! The most popular food in the country. You should have no problem finding a restaurant - go and order a main dish each, to share between you, and a few side dishes as well, and plan on not eating again for 18 hours :stuck_out_tongue:

13

I 2nd the recommendation for curry. :slight_smile:

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Bedford has quite a high population originating from the Indian sub-continent so there should be plenty of curry restaurants to choose from .It also has many people of Italian origin ( they came to Bedford after WW2 to work in the brickworks) so there should be some Italian resaurants as well.

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can’t let this thread go without posting this link:

Tourist advice.

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Couldn’t let a thread mentioning UK roads go without making sure you see Spaghetti Junction .

Oh, and no matter how many lanes the section you’re on has, you WILL get stuck on the M25. Avoid it at all costs, if you can.

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Stuck on the M25 via Spaghetti Junction? Dammit, that’d a good 200 mile detour :stuck_out_tongue:

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No no no… I was sharing the picture of SJ, and separately, the avoid the M25 advice, see?

19

Aha I see…driving to Bedford from Gatwick, without the M25…hmmmmm that’ll be via Marble Arch, then? :smiley:

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That’d be via British Rail, actually.